Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-04-22
HOW MEN DIEM BATTLE
Pictures of Carnage as Seen by "a Privat
soldier.

In Frank Wilkeson's "Recollections of
Private" he says Almost every death
Oh the battlefield is different. And the
manner of the death depends on the
wound and on the man, whether he la
COW ardly or brave whether his vitality "a
large or small, whether he is a man of
active Imagination or is dull of intellect,
whether he is of nervous or Emphatic
temperament; | instance deaths and
wounds that | saw in Grants last cam
paign.
On the second day of the battle of the
wilderness, when fought as an infantry
soldier, saw more men killed and
wounded then did before or after the
same time. knew but few of the men in
the regiment in whose ranks stood. but
learned the christian names of some of
them. The man who stood next to me on
my right was called Will He was cool.
brave and intelligent. In the morning
Wnen Ihe second corps was advancing and
drlvlhg HIS soldiers slowly back was
Hurried. He noticed it. and steaded nv
nerves by saying kindly: Don't fire az
fast This fight will last all day. DON'T
hurry. Cover your man before you pull
your trigger rake 1t easy, my boys, take
u easy, and your cartridges will last the
Longer" This man fought effectively.
During the day had learned to look nm
to this excellent soldier, and lean on him.
reward evening, as we were being slowly
driven back to the Brook road by Long
behind tree firing, with my rifle barrel
resting on the stub of limb Will was
standing by my side but in the open He.
with groan, doubled up, and dropped on
the ground at my feet. He looked IN at
me. His face was pale. He gasped for
breath few times, and then said family:
lhat ENDS me. am shot through the
bowels" said Crawl to the rear. We
are nor far from the intrenchments along
the Brook road" | saw him sit nm. and
indstinctly saw him reach for his rifle.
fallen from his hands as he fell. Again /
spoke to him to go to the rear. He looked
impatiently: 81 tell you that | am as good
as dead. there IS no use in foollng with
forward dead, shot again and through the
head. We fell back before Longstreet's
soldiers and left Will lying in a windrow
of dead men.
When we got in the Brook road ntrench
ments man few files to my left dropped
dead, shot just above the right eye. He
did not groan or sigh or make the slight
est physical movement, except that his
chest neaved a few times The life went
out OF MS face instantly, leaving it with
out particle of expression. 1t was plastic.
and, rs the facial muscles contracted il
took many shapes. When this mans body
became cold, and his face hardened, It
was horribly distorted, as though he had
suffered intensely. Any person who had
not seen him killed, would have said that
ne et dured supreme agony before death
released him. a few minutes after he fell
another man, little farther to the left,
fell with apparently precisely similar
wound. lie was Strengthened out and
lived for over an honr. lie did not speak
simply lay on his back, and his broad
chest rose and fell, slowly at first. and
then faster and faster and more and more
feeOly, until he was dead. And his face
hardened, and 1t was almost terrifying in
its painful distortion. | have seen dead
soldiers faces which were wreathed in
smiles, and heard their comrades say that
they had died happy. | do not believe
that the face of dead soldier. lying on
battlefield, ever truthfully indicates the
ness of mind, which he suffered or en-
loyed before his death The face is pas:
tlc after death, and, as the facial muscles
cool and contract, they draw the face into
many shapes. Sometimes the dead smile,
again they stare with CLASSY eyes and lol-
ling tongues and dreadfully distorted WIS.,
age at you. 1t goes for nothing. One
death was as painless as the other.
After Longstreet's soldiers had driven
the second corp into their intrenchments
along the Brook road, a battle-exhausted
lnfantryman stood behind a large oak
tree. His back rested against it. He was
very tired. and held his rifle loosely in his
hand. The Confederates were directly in
our front This soldier was apparently in
perfect safety. A solid shot from a Con
lederate guI! struck the oak tree squarely
about four feet from the ground, but it
did not have sufficient force to tear
through the tough wood. The soldier fell
DEAD. There was not scratch on him.
lie was killed by concnssion.
While we were fighting savagely over
these lntrenchments the woods in our
front caught fire, and saw many of our
wounded burn to death. Must they not
have suffered horribly? am not at all
sure or that. The smoke rolled heavily
ana slowly before the fire. 1t enveloped
the wounded, and think that by far She
larger portion of the men who were roast
ed were sutfocated before the flames
curled around them. The spectacle was
courage-sapping and pitiful, and it APP
pealed strongly to the Imagination of the
spectators but do not believe that the
wounded soldiers, who were being burned,
suffered greatly, if they suffered at all.
Wounded soldiers, 1t mattered not how
slight the wounds. generally FASTENED
away from the battle lines. A wound en-
Titled man to go to the rear and to a hos
pital OF course, there were many excep-
tlons TO this rule, as there would neces-
sorily be in battles where from 20, 900 to 3d.
600 men were wounded. frequently saw
slightly wounded men. who'were marching
with their colors lipersonally saw but two
men wounded who continued to fight
during the first days fighting in the Will
derness | saw a youth of about 20
years skip and YELL stung by bullet
through the thigh He turned to limp to
the rear. After he had gone few steps
he stopped, then he kicked out his leg
once or twice to see if it would work.
Then he tore the clothing away from his
leg so as to see the wound. He looked at
1t attentively for an instant, then kicked
out his leg again, then turned and took
his place in the ranks, and resumed firing.
There was considerable disorder in the
line and the soldiers moved to and fro
now few feet to the right, now a few feet
to the left One of these movements
brought me directly behind this wounded
soldier. could see plainly from that po-
sition, and pushed into the gaping line
and began firing. In a minute or two the
wounded soldier dropped his rifle, and,
clasping his left arm, exclaimed: II am
hit again ~ He sat down behind the bat
tie ranks and tore off the sleeve of his
shirt. The wound was very slight-not
much more than skin deep. He tied his
handkerchief around it, picked up his
rifle, and took position alongside of me- |
said: NOu are fighting in had lnck to-day